An-Najah Staff

Two agricultural by-products (crude olive cake, OC and a mix of greenhouse
wastes of tomato and cucumber, GHW) were evaluated for ruminal dry
matter (DM), crude protein (CP), acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral
detergent fiber (NDF) degradation kinetics. Duplicate bags containing 3 g
ground raw material each were incubated in the rumen of two ruminally
cannulated Assaf rams for 4, 8, 16, 24, 48 and 72 h. Rate and extent of
ruminal degradation were estimated. Significant effects of by-product type
were observed in rapidly soluble and potentially degradable fractions, and
degradation rates of DM, CP, ADF and NDF. The rapidly soluble DM, CP,
ADF and NDF fractions were 16.19, 15.21, 10.64 and 14.06% for GHW, and
7.21, 6.64, 6.00 and 5.62% for OC. The potentially degradable DM, CP, ADF
and NDF fractions, respectively, were 55.82, 62.30, 49.40 and 55.09% for
GHW, and 47.61, 44.26, 46.34 and 48.53% for OC. The DM, CP, ADF and
NDF disappearance in GHW were higher (P < 0.05) compared to those in
OC. Similarly, the effective degradability (ED) of DM, CP, ADF and NDF in
GHW were higher compared to OC (P < 0.05).